Philosophical Clarifications: Studies Illustrating the Methodology of Philosophical Elucidation

Description

This book is an integrated series of philosophical investigations that offers significant new insights into key philosophical concerns ranging from methodological issues to substantive doctrines. Consisting of three sections, it first deals with the nature of philosophizing itself and seeks to illustrate the project from the angle of the pragmatic tradition. The second section is devoted to issues of knowledge and how the cognitive project goes about producing results that are cogent and objective. The third and closing section considers how the ideas and perspectives of these considerations can be applied and implemented in various matters of personal judgment and practice. Front Matter ....Pages i-viii Front Matter ....Pages 1-1 Introduction (Nicholas Rescher)....Pages 3-5 On Philosophical Deliberation (Nicholas Rescher)....Pages 7-38 On Philosophical Historiography (Nicholas Rescher)....Pages 39-56 Pragmatic Perspectives (Nicholas Rescher)....Pages 57-98 Front Matter ....Pages 99-99 Imprecise Boundaries (Nicholas Rescher)....Pages 101-105 Conjecture (Nicholas Rescher)....Pages 107-113 The Limits of Language (Nicholas Rescher)....Pages 115-131 Quantitative Epistemology (Nicholas Rescher)....Pages 133-137 Issues of Explanation (Nicholas Rescher)....Pages 139-144 Does Inference to the Best Explanation Work? (Nicholas Rescher)....Pages 145-154 Contingency (Nicholas Rescher)....Pages 155-169 Front Matter ....Pages 171-171 Luck (Nicholas Rescher)....Pages 173-189 The Protagoras Perplex (Nicholas Rescher)....Pages 191-203 Acknowledging Scientific Contributions (Nicholas Rescher)....Pages 205-219 Personal vs. Social Utilitarianism (Nicholas Rescher)....Pages 221-224 On Excuses from Moral Obligation (Nicholas Rescher)....Pages 225-231 On the Philosophy of Religion (Nicholas Rescher)....Pages 233-237 Back Matter ....Pages 239-241